WHAT IS 8CHAN?
The online message board dates back to 2013.
Under the banner of free speech, it allows users
to post graphic and extremist content and
doesn’t censor posts.
The site has been linked to violent extremists.
Police are investigating commentary posted
on 8chan believed to have been written by the
suspect in a shooting Saturday that killed 22
people in El Paso, Texas.
If there is a connection, it would be the third
known instance of a shooter posting to the
site before going on a rampage. In March,
the gunman in mass shootings at two New
Zealand mosques posted a rambling manifesto
to the site, as did another who injured several
people and killed one at a California
synagogue in April.
8chan’s founder, Fredrick Brennan, is no
longer running the site. In an interview with
The New York Times on Monday, he said the
site wasn’t doing any good and called for it to
be shut down.
WHY DID 8CHAN GO DOWN?
The site went down briefly after security
provider Cloudflare said it would stop
supporting the site. Without Cloudflare, the site
was vulnerable to outside hackers who shut
down the site.
“8chan has repeatedly proven itself to be a
cesspool of hate,” Cloudflare CEO Matthew
Prince wrote. “They have proven themselves
to be lawless and that lawlessness has caused
multiple tragic deaths.”